Channel-cutter



(No Model.)

W. H. AVEY.

,CHANNEL GUTTER. No. 379,192, Patented Mar. 6,1888.

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v UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM HENRY AVEY, OF COLUMBUS, KENTUCKY.

CHANNEL-CUTTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 379,192, dated March 6, 1888.

Application filed October 29, 1887. Serial No. 253,797.

To all whom t may concern.-

Beit known that I, WILLIAM HENRY AvEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Columbus, in the county of Hickman and State of Kentucky, have invented certain Improvements in Channel-Cutter Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention pertains to certain improvements in machines for forming water-ways or channels, especially through sandbars, aecomplishing the same in a minimum amount of time and without eXtra expenditure of power; and the invention consists of barges timbered or connected together and'carrying opposite edgewise-disposed boards or cutters capable of vertical adjustment, and of certain other combinations of parts, including their construction, substantially as hereinafter more fully set forth, and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a perspective view of my invention. Fig. 2 is a detail view, partly in section and plan, showing one of the cutter-suspending arms and its guide assembled, but detached or removed from the barge. Figs. 3 and 4 are enlarged detail plan views of one of the cutter-suspending arms or bars and its guide, respectively.

In carrying out my invention I, in practice, employ a series of barges arranged one after another, each series comprising two barges, A, timbered or tied together abreast or opposite each other.

B B are the cutters, which consist each of a framing solidly boarded up and forming, as it were, a single piece. These cutters are arranged or disposed parallel to each other at opposite sides of the barges B B, and have firmly connected thereto arms or uprights B B', disposed at required intervals apart. The

upper ends of these arms or uprights B B are Y each bolted to a longitudinal timber or beam, C, which is strengthened by the application thereto of the braces a a, bolted to the said timber or beam and to an upper similar beam or timber, C. The arms or uprights B B', with the cutters B B, are held in position with relation to the barges A A by means of keepers or guides C2, bolted to the barges at or near their upper edges, said arms or uprights having grooves a a', which receive oppositelydisposed portions ci ai of said keepers or guides.

(No model.)

D D are upright screws, which are operated to move vertically by suitable machinery located within the barges. These screws are adapted to act upon the cutter-carrying armbeams O, their upper ends resting or bearing against plates b, yoking together the bolts connecting the beams C C', or they may rest or bear directly upon the beams C. This arrangement permits of vertical adjustment or elevation of the cutters preparatory to commencing work or after the finishing of the work. The cutters have downward movement by gravity, the screws being accordingly lowered as they cut their way through the sand and in advancing into deeper water in forming the water-way or channel through the sand-bar. A l

Vithin the canal or narrow passage formed by the cutters B B, separating the outside dead-water from the water between the latter, is hung a propeller-wheel, E, which, acting upon the narrow body of water thus hemmed in, has the effect to produce a very swift scouring-current, which will act with great force and effectively upon the bank, and thus quickly cut the channel through the sand, the water carrying off the loose sand freed by and between the cutters. The sand loosened outside of the cutters B B is drawn or carried away rearward by the suction action of the wheel, thus leaving the sides or banks of the channel or water-way sloping. This action of the water upon the sand-bank and the carrying off of the loosened sand are greatly augmented as the work of cutting the channel or water-Way progresses, by the addition of barge after barge, as is practiced by my invention, in order to conduct or transfer the loose sand to a distant point.

It will thus be seen that by my invention the Work of cutting a channel or water-way through a sand-bank or sand-banks is effected in a minimum amount of time and without an extra expenditure of power, the cutting of the channel and disposing of the loosened sand being expeditiously and simultaneously carried on and in a continuous manner.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The connected-together barges carrying parallel cutters applied to the inner opposite IOO sides thereof, and. a propeller carried by said l nected to said cutters and having grooves in barges between said cutters, substantially as their sides, ofkeepers or guides applied to opand for the purpose Set forth. l posite inner sides of' barges and engaging with 2. In a channelcuttiing machine, the comsaid arms or uprights, and verbicallymovable 5 biuation, with cutters applied to opposite inscrews acting upon beams or timbers connectner sides of barges, of mechanism comprising ing'- with the upper ends 0f said uprights, subuprights or arms connected to said cutters, and stanbially as seb forth. vertically-movable screws acting upon beams i T or timbers connected to said arms or uprights, WILLAM HEL RY AVEY 1o substantially as set forth. W'itnesses:

3. In a channel-cutting machine, the coin D. C. FITE, binabion, with cutters, arms, or uprights con- J. F. WOODRUFF. 

